Financial Statements - Quarterly

The standard method for reporting the financial performance of companies is on a total dollar basis. Looking at this raw data, however, it is sometimes difficult to discern trends in the company’s performance or to compare companies, especially those that differ significantly in size or sales, or those that exhibit significant seasonality. To aid in this process, Stock Investor Pro provides alternate means of examining financial statement data. For quarterly statistics, in addition to total dollars the program reports quarter-on-quarter percent change data.

The easiest way to identify company trends and their magnitude is with percent change information. Quarterly percent change data is presented in Stock Investor Pro on a same-quarter basis, meaning the percentage change reported is the change between that quarter and the same quarter a year ago. This is the manner in which all quarterly comparisons should be made, as this will eliminate the seasonal fluctuations many companies experience. To locate the quarter-on-quarter data for a company, go to the Fin - Qtr tab in the Stock Notebook and then click on the Percent Change One Year Ago sub-tab.